“What do you mean, you ‘found midnight’?” Dustpelt demanded.
Brambleclaw shuffled his paws. “Midnight is a badger,” he meowed at last. “StarClan wanted us to find her because she could tell us what StarClan wanted us to know.”
“And what did she tell you?” Firestar’s ears twitched as he spoke.
“That the Twolegs would destroy the whole forest and leave us to starve,” Squirrelpaw mewed, her heart suddenly hammering as hard as the first time she had heard Midnight’s warning.
“She told us to lead you away from the forest and find a new home,” Brambleclaw added.
“New home?” Sandstorm stared at him in disbelief.
“So we should leave the forest just because a badger we’ve never heard of thinks it would be a good idea?” Dustpelt meowed.
Squirrelpaw closed her eyes. Was ThunderClan going to ignore Midnight’s warning? Had their journey and Feathertail’s death been for nothing?
“And did she say how we should find this place?” Grey-stripe sat up and leaned closer, the tip of his tail twitching.
Midnight’s words echoed in Squirrelpaw’s mind once more and she found herself repeating them out loud. “‘You will not be without a guide’—that’s what she said. ‘When return, stand on Great Rock when Silverpelt shines above. A dying warrior the way will show.’”
“Have you been to the Great Rock yet to look for this sign?” Firestar asked.
Brambleclaw shook his head. “We were going to meet there tomorrow with Tawnypelt, Stormfur, and Crowpaw. We were going to bring our leaders, if we could persuade them to come . . .”
“Are you going to go?” Mousefur flattened her ears.
“Nothing would keep me away,” Firestar replied.
Dustpelt stared wide-eyed at his leader. “You’re not actually thinking of taking the Clan out of the forest, are you?”
“Right now, I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Firestar admitted. “But I’m not sure the Clan can survive leaf-bare.” He met Dustpelt’s stare, and for a moment Squirrelpaw saw his eyes flash. “I cannot let my Clan suffer if there’s anything I can do to prevent it. We cannot ignore this message, however it came to us. It may be our only hope of survival. If there is a sign, I want to see it for myself.”
He straightened and looked at Brambleclaw. “Tomorrow, I will go with you to Fourtrees.”
CHAPTER 5 (#ulink_d5e10f10-7126-5b8c-8b2f-9ea5fb128d5d)
“Sasha!” Mistyfoot called again. “Is that you?”
There was no reply.
Leafpaw pressed her muzzle against the web and peered out. She had heard of Sasha many times, and was curious to see the rogue she-cat who had taken Tigerstar as her mate and given birth to Mothwing and Hawkfrost while staying with RiverClan. But in the half-light of the wooden nest, she could only just make out Sasha’s tawny pelt huddled at the back of the cage the Twoleg had just brought in.
“Sasha, are you OK?” Mistyfoot called more urgently.
“Give her time to recover,” Cody advised. “The new ones are always quiet.”
“I don’t need time to recover,” came a furious hiss. “How dare they put me in here? If I could get out, I’d rip that Twoleg to shreds!”
“What were you doing in the forest?” Mistyfoot asked.
“I wanted to see my kits,” Sasha replied. “I had heard about the Twolegs destroying the forest, and I wanted to make sure they were safe.”
“I saw Mothwing not long ago!” Leafpaw mewed. “She was fine. She’s going to be a medicine cat.”
“Who’s that speaking?” Sasha called.
“I’m Leafpaw, ThunderClan’s apprentice medicine cat,” Leafpaw told her. “I’m friends with Mothwing.”
“Do you know Hawkfrost too?” Sasha demanded. “Is he safe?”
Leafpaw did not answer. Her paws prickled as she pictured Sasha’s other kit. He had an icy-blue gaze like the sky in leaf-bare, and his shoulders were as broad and powerful as those of a warrior of twice his age and experience. Last time Leafpaw had met him, he had threatened to drag Sorreltail back to the RiverClan camp because she had strayed across the border by mistake. Luckily, Mothwing had persuaded him to let Sorreltail go.
Mistyfoot called from her cage, “Hawkfrost was fine when I saw him last.”
“Thank goodness,” Sasha breathed.
The relief in her voice surprised Leafpaw. “She sounds as worried as a Clan queen would be!” she whispered to Cody through the web that separated them.
“Of course.” Cody had been listening quietly to the exchange. “She’s talking about her kits—she’s a she-cat just like any other, after all.”
“But she gave them away to be raised in RiverClan!” Leafpaw exclaimed, almost forgetting to keep her voice low.
“Why didn’t she let her own Clan raise them?” Cody sounded puzzled.
“Sasha’s not a Clan cat,” Leafpaw explained. “She’s a rogue.”
“That’s right, call me names just because I choose not to live among the rest of you,” Sasha growled, overhearing. “Not that I care, as long as my kits are safe.”
“I’m sorry,” Cody apologised. “This is such a small nest it’s hard not to get involved.” She glanced sideways at the cage next to hers where a tattered black rogue crouched without giving any sign that he had heard their conversation. “With some cats, at least,” she added pointedly. Leafpaw knew that Cody had been trying to befriend the black tom but had not managed to get any answer from him except his name—Coal.
“You’re a kittypet, aren’t you?” Sasha asked Cody bluntly. “You sound too polite for a rogue, and you look too fat to be a Clan cat.”
Leafpaw saw Cody bristle. “Cody’s a friend!” she mewed, leaping to her defence.
“I didn’t say she wasn’t,” Sasha meowed. “I’m just trying to work out who’s who in this place.”
Mistyfoot explained: “They’re mostly rogues, but there are a few other forest cats here.” Gorsetail, Brightheart, and Cloudtail meowed greetings as Mistyfoot went on, “Cody’s the only kittypet, as far as we know.”
“Have any of you worked out a way to escape from this foxhole?” Sasha asked.
“Not yet,” Mistyfoot admitted.
“Even StarClan hasn’t given us a clue,” Leafpaw added.
“StarClan!” In the shadows, she saw Sasha curl her lip. “Do you Clan cats still believe in that nonsense after what’s happened to the forest?”
“Of course we do!” Leafpaw hissed.
“Well, say a prayer for me, little one,” Sasha sighed unexpectedly. “I think we’re all going to need as much help as we can get.”
